Labor is promising to double the coalition government’s spending on eradicating family violence if it wins the election on May 18. This will bring funding to a record $660 million. It will go towards early intervention and education, frontline services, emergency accommodation and legal services. The women’s centre is in the heart of the Greens’ only lower house seat, but Labor said their focus was on the location, not the upcoming electoral battle.

The 170-year-old building was one of the first women’s hospitals in the world. It was also the site of the forced sterilisations of indigenous women, and where women considered ‘unfit’ to be mothers had their babies taken away.

The opposition leader said too many people still questioned why abused women did not leave.“The real question we should have asked is where could she have gone,” Mr Shorten said. One woman is murdered each week by a current or former partner, with mothers and children still turned away from crisis support.Mr Shorten said words were not enough. “To be really blunt and direct – in a crisis, words do not put a roof over your head,” the opposition leader said in Melbourne on Friday. “Words don’t help kids coming home at night checking if their mother had turned on the porch light or not, as a quiet sign to say whether their dad is in a good mood or an angry mood. “Words don’t help kids in the morning, and the mothers, wondering where they will go, how much longer they can take it.”

Volunteer accused of stalking Liberal candidate

Charis Chang

Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie has dumped a campaign volunteer amid allegations he stalked her Liberal rival, Georgina Downer. Paul Bunney, 63, has been charged and bailed to appear in Mount Barker Magistrates Court in May.Ms Sharkie said the allegations were extremely serious and Mr Bunney has been told he cannot be part of her campaign. “I have zero tolerance for the sort of behaviour alleged, no matter how passionate a supporter may be,” she said in a statement.“Every candidate has the right to feel safe in this campaign.”

She said volunteers formed a major part of her push for re-election. “More than 850 people have approached my office to volunteer their support in some capacity, big or small, for this campaign,” she said. Mr Bunney told online news outlet InDaily he never followed Ms Downer and the allegations stemmed from various interactions including an accusation he posted her address on Facebook.

Ms Sharkie is fighting to keep her seat at the May 18 election, while Ms Downer, the daughter of long-serving foreign minister Alexander Downer, is bidding to win back his former electorate for the Liberals. Ms Downer also ran in last year’s by-election in Mayo, called when Ms Sharkie fell foul of citizenship laws. In that poll, Ms Sharkie increased her majority and now holds the seat with a margin of about five per cent.– With AAP

Clive Palmer says Labor is lying about preference deal

Charis Chang

Clive Palmer has accused Labor MPs of lying over claims he was not approached about a preference deal.

According to The Australian, Mr Palmer told reporters outside court this morning in Brisbane that comments from Labor MP Anthony Albanese that the party was not talking to him about preferences were "just not true".

Mr Palmer said Senator Anthony Chisholm approached him when he was in Canberra for the Budget.

“It’s not true that I wasn’t approached by the Labor Party, I certainly was.”

Senator Chisholm declined to comment when contacted by The Australian.

Anning's puzzling exchange on "black" ban

One of the stranger exchanges at the Fraser Anning press conference involved his comments on a "Muslim and Black" immigration ban.

Mr Anning posted on Twitter today that: "My party will ban all Muslim and Black immigration and ensure safety for Australians once more."

Asked to clarify whether the ban would include the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu or Oprah Winfrey, Mr Anning said "I don't remember doing that Twitter" but adding "I've never had a White Australia policy".

"One of my Senate candidates is actually an Indian and he calls himself black, I think he's just brown. We don't have any colour chart in my office," he said.

"I certainly wouldn't preclude anyone who comes to this country and assimilates and doesn't want to attack us, I'd love to have them here and especially if they are not the dole and actually work for a living."

But confused journalists asked for further clarification and read out Mr Anning's tweet.

His answer didn't seem to clear up anything.

"I'd say it would be black Sudanese," Mr Anning said. "The Sudanese are in gangs in Melbourne now attacking people on a daily basis.

"We have white flight out of Sydney and Melbourne."

One reporter asked whether Mr Anning was proposing a racial test for immigration.

"Absolutely, for those people, absolutely," Mr Anning said.

What followed was this exchange:

Q: What do you mean 'those people'?

Anning: The Sudanese, the black Sudanese. they're black in colour and they're Sudanese and they shouldn't be coming into this country because they don't fit in and they attack us and they go on the dole.

Q: Don't you think it's racist to call out a specific race and say they're not welcome?

Anning: Absolutely, absolutely, they're not welcome.

Q: Don't you think it's racist?

Anning: That race, absolutely.

Q: So you accept that you're being racist?

Anning: No I don't accept that I'm racist, I'm being a pragmatist. I believe that we should be bringing people into this country who assimilate and I don't care what colour they are by the way, but those particular people do not assimilate, they live in their enclaves, they're a parallel society, and they attack us.

Fraser Anning condemns violence

Charis Chang

Fraser Anning says he condemns violence of any sort but doesn't know what happened during an alleged attack following his press conference.

Mr Anning said the incident happened after the press conference finished and he had left the area so couldn’t comment on it but said: "I condemn any violence, I’ve never advocated for any violence of any sort to anyone".

When asked why physical altercations seemed to be happening at his press events, he said: “some people are crazy I guess”.

If it was proved that the supporter had done something wrong “without provocation” Mr Anning said he would expel him from his party.

“If he was hit first he has the right to protect himself like anyone does,” Mr Anning said. “If he’s just assaulted somebody then obviously he wouldn’t be welcome in my party”.

Mr Anning said there were crazy people from both sides of politics.

“The left-wing supporters are violent, much more violent than any of supporters that I’ve seen in our party but as I said I condemn any violence at any time,” he said.

Mr Anning also slammed the Prime Minister Scott Morrison after hearing the Coalition would now preference his party last in almost every seat.

He described the move as “hypocrisy” and said he couldn’t believe a conservative party would put his Christian conservative party behind the “toxic mix of Labor and the Greens”.

Fraser Anning candidates will be put last

Charis Chang

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has confirmed Fraser Anning's candidates will be put last in all seats across the country, with a few exceptions.

Mr Cormann said Mr Anning's candidates wouldn't be put last in the seat of Lindsay for example where a judgement is made that candidates like neo-nazi and Australia First chairman Jim Saleam would be even worse.

"Other than that, Fraser Anning is last in all of our seats," Mr Cormann told SkyNews.

He also confirmed One Nation would also be placed behind Labor in all Liberal-held seats.